Miss Wonderful

"Miss Wonderful" is the story of Mirabel Oldridge, the only daughter of a slightly crazy but amiable man, and Alistair Carsington, a younger son of an Earl. At the beginning of the story, the reader discovers that Alistair, an injured Waterloo veteran, because of a long list of follies from his past, is being forced to either wed an heiress or find himself employment. Not particularly wanting to marry at the present time, he goes together with his friend, Lord Gordmor, in a venture to build a canal to Gordmor's coal mines in Derbyshire. When Alistair arrives and attempts to persuade the residents to his side, he discovers that his strongest opposition is from Mirabel, a feisty and intelligent girl who runs her father's estate. The two show more butt heads frequently and an attraction starts to grow between them... This story was a bit of a dissapointment. At the beginning, it was set up well and was very entertaining, but it fizzles out towards the end. She gives away her character's "secrets" (such as they are) too early, and there is no real climax to the book. It just kind of drifts in the direction it's going without any real purpose. And this was a great dissapointment, because it had a good deal of potential. Mirabel, also, was riding the line of an "Amazon" woman - one of my greatest pet peeves when it comes to women in Regency novels. She was not ~quite improper, but she certainly did not seem the least bit concerned about her reputation, which I felt to be a bit unrealistic. Alistair was a good character, but I think that he should have had some major revelation, or actually let us know what happened to him at Waterloo, rather than his major revelation being something as pitiful as admitting he was afraid. Well, duh. Also, I didn't like the sex scene right before the wedding, with them coming to their wedding all rumpled. I found it rather unrealistic that people wouldn't be absolutely horrified at that. show less

The plot is rather aimless and silly; I found the treatment of PTSD... strange, to be charitable; and there were elements of speech/attitude which struck me as so anachronistic that I winced, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable book. Although I didn't fall in love with either of the main characters, I liked both of them a good deal, and was glad when they got together. I appreciated that it wasn't a standard romance-by-numbers, either; Alistair was not a rake straight from central casting, and I loved the fact that Mirabel was actually older than him. Very good for reading on a rainy day when curled up under a duvet.

Loved the two main characters. After her mother’s death Mirabel has had to give up a lot in order to look after her eccentric father and to keep Oldridge hall from going into the gutter. She’s pretty much resigned herself to spinster hood until Alistair, a famous war hero, shows up. Mirabel’s witty and headstrong which I always love in the heroine. And her verbal sparring sessions with Alistair in the beginning were great.

Alistair is messed up both physically and emotionally from the war that made him a well known hero. He’s come to Derbyshire to convince the locals that they should let him and his partner build a canal there. The biggest resistance he finds comes from Mirabel whose property the canal would run straight through. show more And she’s prepared to use all she’s got to fight against Alistair. Alistair has a great sense of humor and the things that plague him about the war were interesting and made him a believable character. He also has some OCD problems when it comes to clothing. Everything has to be perfect and up to date in his wardrobe and it drives him crazy when other people’s attire isn’t up to par. I loved this about him. It wasn't overdone and was amusing to see how much Mirabel’s out of date and often messy attire bothered him. It was also great that she used that as one of her weapons in their “war.” Mirabel and Alister for the most part fit well together.

However, I started to loose interest in the story when Alistair started trying to please Mirabel’s needs about the canal business. Their battle was pretty much over and Mirabel's stubbornness then became annoying and seemingly unreasonable. There was also a plot twist near the end dealing with Caleb, a minor character, that I didn’t get into. It just didn’t seem to fit right with the rest of the story. show less

This is actually a re-read, but the book held up very well. Alastair Carsington is a war hero who dresses like a fop to make up for the limp from an injury. His father has given him six months to make some money or find a rich heiress. He decides to invest in his friend's canal and travels to Derbyshire to smooth the bumps in getting it started. The biggest bump is Miss Mirabel Oldridge, the intelligent and pretty but badly dressed daughter of one of the men Alastair needs to convince. Her appearance sends him reeling but she's smart enough to use it to convince him the canal is a bad idea.
Their banter is one of the best parts of this book. They really are a wonderful pairing in a very smart story. I also liked seeing the setting in show more Derbyshire, a lovely area of England neglected by a lot of historical writers. I was happy to read this book again and will continue to reread the entire series. show less

I love this book, especially that our two leads are evenly matched in age, status and intelligence. They have a sparkling repartee. Alistair initially comes across as a bit of a Dandy, but you soon learn that there is so much more to him. And Mirabel has had to put her own desires aside to hold her family estate together.

There's a lot of humour and moments that really made me smile. Especially as even though they had indulged in some intimacy, they still addressed each other as Miss O and Mr C. The ancillary characters were also used very well and given full personalities.

The villain of the piece was the tiniest bit pantomimey, but that's a minor point and doesn't really detract

The first volume of the Carsington Brothers series and my first book by Ms Chase. I'm not sure why I've put off reading any of her prolific output until now, but it may have something to do with her name reminding me of well-known chanteuse, and imagining that Ms Chase's books were cozy mainstream romances.

It was a huge surprise to discover a decidedly non-cozy and complex story in which the romance between Waterloo veteran Alistair and Derbyshire heiress Mirabel almost takes second place to meticulously researched local and historical colour. Not that the romance between two such apparently mismatched protagonists isn't fascinating in itself. It is, but it never overwhelms the background story of the planning and building of a canal, show more in the course of which we meet a host of intriguing and eccentric characters, and a few token villains.

Ms Chase clearly did her homework in researching Matlock Spa and the Peak District, as well as the procedure for obtaining funding, approval and permission for the building of a canal or a more modern tramway or railway.

I love books that leave you not just happy and satisfied, but also a little wiser about something you didn't know too much about. This was definitely one of those books. show less

Not sure about this Alistair character; he is described as a wastrel, loves clothes, and is considered a hero for something he has no recollection for. Qualities usually not given to lead male characters in books. And to boot our heroine is thirty-one, gasp! What have we here Watson? I'm intrigued.
 
Wow never read someone described so poetically "Her eyes were blue, twilight blue, and for a moment she seemed to be the beginning and end of everything, from the sunrise halo of hair to the dusky blue of her eyes." Uh, sigh. Sign me up to be waxed poetically over.
 
No idea how to take this book. Alistair is constantly distracted by how atrociously Mirabel is dressed, hard for me to connect with a male character so incredibly into fashion. I show more think it was suppose to be funny, but it just weirded me out.The author does an incredible job with her secondary characters, reminds me of Carla Kelly. Captain Hughes was awesome, I absolutely loved how he could turn anything into nautical terms.
 
Alistair's PTSD from the battle of Waterloo and the memories is very heartbreaking to read but the author somehow manages to keep things light and write Alistair's comments and feelings to keep the story from being weighed down in the ugliness of war. Alistair is not the typical scarred war hero, he has a calmness, lightheartedness, and unflappability to keep him from being dark.
 
Ok the canal business started to become tedious halfway through and I was grudgingly trying to understand its importance to the story.
 
Oh man the scene where Mirabel is stripping and Alistair tries to keep looking at his boots starts off funny and then shifts into "make your heart clench in your chest" when Alistair realizes Mirabel has felt ignored for so long and he final gives in and then says "I see you".
 
The last five or so chapters of the book were kind of boring for me. I was annoyed at how stubborn Mirabel was about the canal, which I again want to say took up way too much of the story and the Caleb Finch villain who kidnapped Mirabel's dad seemed like an unnecessary part to add. Mirabel and Alistair's relationship lost some of its spark and I just think the story could have wrapped up sooner. There are some great funny and heart clenching moments throughout but because of the canal and ending not a keeper.
 
B- show less